5 Essential Elements of a Successful Marketing Video

Video is the most lucrative marketing material around, promising higher engagement, more conversions and bigger profits. Pretty compelling stuff – at least it had better be, because the expense of video production leaves little room for error once the cameras start rolling.

However, the success of your marketing video is largely decided before the production process even begins. Tick the right boxes in the planning stages and you should have yourself a concept, storyboard and a bag full of confidence that your video will be a hit – and here are the five elements that make the difference.

1: Emotional appeal

Whether you leave your audience weeping, crying with laughter or stunned into silence, your video needs to make an emotional impact if you want to provoke a reaction. This is nothing new to video though, even in the digital age, because TV has been perfecting this art for decades.

2: Relevance

Reaching your audience on an emotional level starts with creating a relevant message to them.

We say it so often, but this is why you need to understand your audience, down to the finest detail. Appeal to their pains, needs, desires, fears and you can use these emotional connections to bring them that extra step closer to your brand.

3: Benefits, not features

A large part of this is understanding how to sell the benefits of your products or services. Benefits are not the features of your products, or even what you think people love about them most. The benefits you need to capture are the ones that show your audience how you’re going to improve their lives, whether by fixing an everyday problem, saving them money or making their wildest dreams come true.

Think about format too and how to best demonstrate these benefits in your video. For example, it’s common to choose between a voice over and captions to add narrative to your footage. Finding British voice talent or creating captions is the easy part; knowing which will get the best reaction from your audience is what really counts.

4: A narrative

To capture the benefits of your brand, make them relevant and appeal to your audience on an emotional level, you’re going to need a strong narrative. The art of storytelling is at the core of every marketing message, and it starts with a character your audience can relate to. This is the emotional bridge between your viewers and the marketing message at the heart of your video.

Every good story needs a point of conflict too, a problem that puts your main character in jeopardy and your viewers on the edge of their seats. Bang! There you have your emotional appeal and now it’s time to show your audience the beauty of resolution.

5: Call to action

With the hero in your story facing impending doom (or something less dramatic) and your viewers full of empathy, it’s time to introduce your brand. That’s right, you’re the answer to all their problems and, if your video hits your audience on an emotional level, all that’s left is a strong call to action to seal the deal.

Always keep your goal in mind – even if you’re using humour, fear or whatever emotion to engage people, your goal isn’t to make them laugh or scare them. Your goal is to inspire action and compel your audience to buy into your services and your call to action is the final prompt – so use it wisely.

Having completed a Diploma in Digital Marketing, awarded from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Lauren became the Digital Marketing Manager for Matinée Multilingual. Matinée specialise in the production and translation of audio, video and multimedia content. Lauren enjoys keeping on top of industry news and sharing it through their blog and social media channels.

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